Advocate staff contribute to Pulitzer winner

In the next seven days of the heroin epidemic, at least 180 people in Greater Cincinnati will overdose and 18 will die. Babies will be born to addicted mothers. Parents will go to jail. Children will end up in foster care. This is normal now.

The Cincinnati Enquirer staff won a Pulitzer Prize in the local reporting category on a project helped by the staff of The Advocate.

The story "Seven Days of Heroin" was recognized by the Pulitzer board "for a riveting and insightful narrative and video documenting seven days of greater Cincinnati's heroin epidemic, revealing how the deadly addiction has ravaged families and communities."

The Enquirer, The Advocate and nine other USA TODAY Network papers in Ohio sent more than 60 reporters, videographers and photographers into communities across the state to chronicle the struggle with the heroin epidemic.

“I’m so thrilled and happy for the staff of The Enquirer," said Peter Bhatia, editor and vice president of the Detroit Free Press who led The Enquirer when the story was published. "This project was the product of the entire staff and everyone, everyone there deserves credit for it."

The story chronicled an "ordinary" week for people dealing with the heroin crisis, from those facing addiction and their families, to paramedics and police officers.

"My hope is that the Pulitzer recognition, so richly deserved, exposes even more people to the project, because the events chronicled in Seven Days of Heroin continue, and people remain desperate for help," said Enquirer Editor Beryl Love.

The Advocate's Bethany Bruner, in particular, contributed locally to the winning-piece with her reporting on a man who overdosed on the floor of the Speedway bathroom on West Main Street in Newark.

In that incident, medics revived the man by drilling a stent into his leg to reverse the overdose. The man later in the hospital hopped off the guerney and ran outside with the stent still embedded in his leg.

Two other newsrooms in Gannett, The Enquirer's parent company, also won Pulitzer Prizes. The staffs of The Arizona Republic and USA Today Network won for "The Wall," an examination of every mile of U.S.-Mexico border. Andie Dominick of The Des Moines Register won for editorial writing.

This is the second Pulitzer win for The Enquirer. Jim Borgman won for editorial cartooning in 1991.